The Importance of a Good Coach

After reading the above quote by the legendary coach, John Wooden, who won 10 NCAA College National Basketball Championships in a 12 year span, you would think he knew what he was talking about, right?

In this day and age the majority of the population wants big things to happen in the quickest and easiest way possible. But the problem is nobody wants to put in the little details and do the small things in order to make the big things happen.

Then you have that other small percentage of the population that is willing to put in the little details and do the small things in order to make the big things happen. But sometimes this small population needs help. And there is nothing wrong with ever needing help in order to succeed at something and to make the big things happen.

Sometimes that extra help needs to come from a good coach…

What Makes a Good Coach?

A good coach is someone that offers the following:

Builds a solid relationship with the client or athlete

Makes sure to educate the client or athlete and have them understand the WHY’s behind things

Has a non-biased eye towards the client or athlete

One who has expertise and education in the sport or activity

Someone who has experience working with people and has gotten them results and has experience with themselves

A person who can serve guidance, sustainability, accountability, and structure

You see, it’s very difficult to be objective when coaching yourself. Is it fair for a doctor or therapist to practice on themselves or family? No, because of the biased opinion and emotional attachment that’s involved. The purpose of a coach is to gain objectivity and to make decisions that will benefit them from a logical place and not let biased or emotional attachments overpower that.

The “Missing Links” to Getting Results

Once you reach a certain level of knowledge and experience, the missing link is no longer a new training program, the golden nutrition plan, or a new supplement fresh off the market to try.

The one thing you’re missing is accountability to someone or something for your training and nutrition and this comes from a good coach.

“Accountability is the acknowledgment of responsibility for your actions with the obligation to report, explain, and be responsible for the resulting consequences.”

In other words, accountability keeps you consistent because you have to check in with what you’re doing or not doing…in the gym and in the kitchen to someone else.

Once you have accountability, then you can add the two missing links together to get a synergistic outcome and get results.

Link #1- The Hierarchy of Nutrition

If you were to go off a hierarchy of nutrition like the picture below (and the credit to this hierarchy of nutrition goes to Eric Helms).

Adherence, lifestyle, and behavioral habits always come first for the simple fact that without consistency and adherence, no training or nutrition program will produce results.

In the middle of the pack, come calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients. Once you have your behavioral habits down as the foundation along with a sound nutrition program that you can be consistent with and adhere to, you can then worry about your total daily calorie intake, your individualized macronutrient ratios for your goals, and your daily micronutrients.

At the bottom of the list comes nutrient timing, things like meal frequency, and timing and then of course, supplements. Supplements are just icing on the cake, without a sound nutrition program, supplements won’t do much.

Link #2- The Hierarchy of Training

Since training and nutrition go hand in hand and you neither cant “Out nutrition a bad training program” nor can you “Out train a bad nutrition program,” if you were to go off a hierarchy of training like the picture below.

Safety, health, and goals always should be paramount because if you are injured you can’t progress and without any set goals in place, you can’t get specific with your training and individualization.

Dead center we have adherence, consistency, and preferences. Adherence and consistency because you want a training program that’s individualized to your personal preferences, exercise selections that are conducive to your bodies, goals, schedules, training experience, and physical capabilities.

And in dead last but certainly not least, we have periodization and training variables. This is where you get to implement linear, nonlinear, block periodization, or autoregulation training concepts. This is where you get to manipulate training variables such as frequency, volume, and intensity…all the technical goodies within training.

Hiring a Coach Can Only Help You

Now that you know the importance of having a good coach and know the 2 missing links just remember the quote by John Wooden “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

A good coach can take the guess work out of your hands, guide you on your journey to make it easier, provide the little details, educate you, and ultimately push you to do the little things to make big things happen.

Here is a checklist that you can use if you are looking to hire a coach in 2016:

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